


Memory Lane via Gotham Park

by Her_Pale_Shadow



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics)
Genre: F/F, and Dinah has a cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Her_Pale_Shadow/pseuds/Her_Pale_Shadow
Summary: Barbara watches old romance bloom- not exactly by choice, but that's what you get for being the all-seeing Oracle. She thinks back to times gone by.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	Memory Lane via Gotham Park

It was a strange thing to be able to recognise the sound of kissing over a comms channel, but it was a skill that Barbara had picked up whether she wanted to or not. Romantic entanglements were inevitable in the high-pressure, adrenaline-pumped superhero business, and the ever-present Oracle had heard her fair share of make-out sessions.

She looked up from her tablet to see that her monitor had automatically brought up a layout of Black Bat’s Gotham den, with a faint overlay of Cassandra Wayne’s apartment. In the den’s main corridor, two dots labelled ‘Black Bat’ and ‘Batgirl’ were almost completely overlapping.

It seemed that the heroes hadn’t turned off their communications after their latest mission. Barbara was sorely tempted to ask how the mission went or maybe just cough awkwardly, but before she could decide which, the sounds of kissing stopped and Steph’s voice came breathless through the speakers.

“Sorry. Too much?”

“Not enough,” said Cass, with a hungry tone.

Suddenly feeling her face burning, Barbara quickly turned off their mics, not quite fast enough to cut off the start of another make-out sesh. This wasn’t something she was supposed to hear. This wasn’t something anyone was supposed to hear except the two of them.

With a quiet beep, boxes of diagnostics summoned themselves on the left side of the screen, innocently concerned about the Bats’ dramatically increased heart rates. A little too innocently for Barbara’s liking; shouldn’t the system be able to recognise this behaviour by now? She’d have to write a code for it. Looking forward to _that_.

A diagram pointed out that the suits were feeling increased spots of pressure on Black Bat’s upper body and Batgirl’s… lower body. The suit diagnostics started speculating on what situation could cause the pressure. ‘-Advanced hand-to-hand combat. -Trapped in an enclosed space. -Ritual magic involving physical contact.’ That last one wasn’t too far from the truth, Barbara thought.

She dismissed all of the computer’s diagnostics and worries. Then she put Black Bat’s den on dark mode, vetoing any unsolicited calls for it. After a second’s thought she also closed off the tunnels leading to other Batcaves. She didn’t want Tim or (shudder) Bruce walking in on anything.

On the map, the two dots were now completely overlapping. Barbara switched the screen to show another part of the city. She really should talk with them both later about doing all this themselves.

She absently watched some CCTV of Gotham park for a bit and sighed. Memories came to her completely unbidden, of sitting on a park bench while eating lunch with Cass. Young, quiet, Batgirl Cass. She remembered how she would be so happy back then, when Cass wore something new or did something different with her hair. Anything that made her seem at home in the daylit park, like she was part of the Gotham she worked so hard to save.

One lunchtime conversation in particular was tugging at Barbara’s brain. She knew what it had been about before she could remember the exact words. She had idly asked what Cass had been up to recently, as if they were just an ordinary pair of friends, out for some sunshine.

“Reading lessons with Sp- Stephanie,” Cass had said.

Barbara had nodded. “How are those going?”

Cass had the decency to look a little embarrassed. “Not much reading.”

That’s how most of Barbara’s attempts to convince Cass to practice reading had turned out, so she hadn’t really been surprised. “So what do you do?”

“Mostly we…” Cass cast around for the right words, “Play tag.”

Despite herself, Barbara had been amused by the idea. “What chance does Steph have against you?”

Cass had beamed as she said “None.”

They laughed a bit and then paused, soaking in the sounds and smells of the park. And then Cass had spoken with confusion, like she had discovered something new and weird and she didn’t quite understand it. “I like it when she laughs.”

And the look on her face was like a glimpse back in time, and Barbara could remember sitting side-by-side with Robin on stakeouts, or sticking close to Starfire when she worked with the Teen Titans.

_Oh honey_ , she’d wanted to say.

“That’s good,” she’d said out loud, “that’s normal.”

And now Oracle sat alone in her belltower, her screen buzzing quietly.

Barbara hit a speed-dial button. “Hi Dinah, bad time?”

“Nope!” Dinah’s voice came through cheerily, even though Barbara could literally hear her boot connecting with someone’s skull in the background. “What’s up?”

“How much would I be mocked if I said ‘they grow up so fast’? Where does the time go?”

As Dinah laughed and consoled her, Barbara looked over at one of the framed photos on a side table. It was of Cass and her, smiling in their best clothes.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just one of many short pieces I wrote down and abandoned because I never really felt they were good enough to post. But now I'm thinking: who cares if my random splurges of writing aren't perfect? If I like them, even if they're half-baked, maybe others will too. Hopefully I'll post more stories from my many, many disorganised word docs in future.


End file.
